Kbait

I had something similar on my tetras, appeared quickly, very deadly, and looked similar to your photo. Someone on this forum told me it was epistylis and sent me this link to help identify it https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/10-2-4-epistylis/ Ultimately all my tetras died, but since you asked and have seen this numerous times at petco I thought I'd at least throw it out there for you to look into.

@xXInkedPhoenixX thank you so much for your info! This makes me wonder if the pet store is treating with meds when in fact the problem was nutrition. It's great to hear that you don't stop feeding yours- I will continue to do so with less worry. You're 60 babies sound like such a healthy school they must be so happy with you.

Apologies in advance for a story: On 8/1 I went to my LFS and purchased 3 Oto Cats for my heavily planted shrimp tank. I got them home and placed them in a 5 gal quarantine tank (with a cycled sponge filter I keep in one of my other thanks at all times, heater set to 76, tank parameters: ammonia and nitrates 0, nitrates <5, ph 7.2) When I got them home 1 was skinnier than the rest and lethargic. That one wouldnt eat, while the other 2 happily munched away on lettuce and zucchini- no surprise 2 days(8/3) later I woke to find my skinny fish had passed away. I know Oto Cats are often underfed/ underweight after shipment and treatment in fish stores, so I didn't really think much of it and went back to the store for a replacement. They gave me a new fish however the tank the original (now 2) fish came from is in quarantine so my new fish came from a different tank. The employee told me that they have "protozoa" and I should treat my fish with nox-ich for 3 days. All 3 are happily eating and schooling in my quarantine tank. I treated yesterday when the 3rd fish arrived home with a dose of ich-x, and paracleanse (since they are primarily wild caught my mind went to parasites, and I assumed I'd be doing daily water changes due to ich-x so I postponed adding maracyn). The only symptoms I could say they have would be that they (all 3) lightly clamp their fins/ lay them down when at rest though I think from my research this may just be how they "rest"? They wriggle around all over their lettuce leaf that I suppose could be flashing but it looks more like they are trying to find the perfect spot on the leaf to start muching. I'm not very familiar with their behavior to be certain of either, but I have no doubt they were exposed to something. My questions are- 1. Anyone with Oto Cat experience that knows if at rest they retract their fins like this? 2. Should I treat with each med individually as if they are "sick" (treat with ich-x daily with 30% water changes x5ish days, then complete 1 week maracyn, and somewhere in there dose with paracleanse again) OR since they are showing few to no symptoms should I just add maracyn and let them quarantine with the trio x1 week. 3. Any advice on the whole "not feeding " in quarantine for these little guys? Seems like they don't tolerate it for long and usually not feeding for 3-4 days in quarantine is standard. Thanks for any help! I'd love to see all 3 of these guys happy and healthy in my tank.

Thank you so much for the help! Fingers crossed I can save them.

Two weeks ago I added 6 ember tetras to my tank, they are hard to find in my area so 3 came from one store, 3 from another a few days later. I stupidly skipped quarantine and added them to my 10 gal established shrimp tank (I know it was stupid to skip quarantine... I'm paying for it now.) A few days later I noticed a tiny white spot on one of the fish, and pulled all 6 out for quarantine. I didn't have ich-x on hand (mistake #2) so I used a "highly recommended" medication from a local aquarium store. Fish were almost better by day 3 of treatment, and then day 5 ich re-exploded in the quarantine tank. (Was doing daily 30-50% water changes, quarantine tank is bare bottom, vac bottom with water changes) temp in quarantine was 78 degrees, no ammonia/nitrites or nitrates. Water parameters in shrimp tank are on point and shrimp are still thriving... definitely came from the second store as their entire fish section is currently shut down (I called but they wouldn't tell me what the fish are sick with) I used the other brand of ich medication for a few more days before my ich-x arrived (6 days other brand in total). Changed 2 days ago to ich-x and increased temp to 82 and this morning one of my tetras had very large spots compared to the small ich size. (Visible on photo on head). 3 of the tetras have no visible ich, and have never had spots that I have noticed. The other 3 are heavily spotted. It's weird to me that 3 are sick while 3 are not if it is ich, and these larger spots also make me wonder. But they have lasted for a total of 8 days thus far so whatever it is isn't a fast killer. Should I keep treating with ich-x? or should I add in maracyn and paracleanse and then not be able to perform water changes daily? Thank you anyone for help. Sorry this is so long of a post I tried to include all relevant info. Also its very hard to get a decent photo of them...